1. Field
The field of the invention relates to analyzing the quality of an image and, more specifically, to evaluating the quality of a digital bi-chrome signature confirmation image.
2. Background
Delivery services, including commercial package delivery services, the United States Postal Service, and couriers, often receive a recipient's signature as confirmation that a package, letter or another deliverable item was successfully delivered. The confirmation signature is typically saved by the delivery service. Subsequently, the confirmation signature can be used to verify the package was delivered and identify who accepted the package. In some delivery services, a confirmation signature is entered into a delivery tracking system using a stylus and a signature pad. In other delivery services, the recipient signs a piece of paper to confirm the delivery, and the recipients' handwritten confirmation signature is then digitally imaged or scanned and electronically stored in a delivery tracking system.
The quality of a confirmation signature image can be affected by many factors. Certain image aberrations can make the stored image inadequate for identifying the recipient. For example, movement of the imaging device, sunlight, shadows, and/or a tilted imaging angle can adversely affect the resulting confirmation signature image. Image processing techniques can be used to enhance the quality of a confirmation signature image after it is stored. However, a real-time evaluation of the confirmation signature image to determine if the image is acceptable may obviate the need for subsequent processing. Also, it can be difficult to evaluate how well any one certain technique will work for a large set of confirmation signature images (for example, 1000+ images), which again indicates the need for evaluating a confirmation signature image before it is stored. Also, determining how a software upgrade affects the quality of an imaged signature for a large set of images can be difficult. Typically, the images are evaluated by a user viewing the images. Such an evaluation is quite burdensome and subjective.
Accordingly, implementing a real-time confirmation signature evaluation process that rejects poor images when a signature is first imaged would be advantageous. In addition, methods for validating a new image process (e.g., a software or hardware upgrade) that produces an image of a confirmation signature would be useful to address the above-described problems and other problems in the art.